Postgame Quotes: Colorado 2, Revolution 1

“Up until we scored the equalizer we were definitely second best. I think after that, there was really nothing between the teams. A couple of great chances first half that we might have scored with – maybe should have scored with. Second half, both teams kind of huffed and puffed. We had a wee bit of pressure without making any real chances, and then they scored.
I don’t think we deserved to lose the game; I thought we deserved to get a point out of the game … we weren’t great. We put the effort in. Again, I don’t think we deserved to get beat, but we certainly need to get better.”

“Up until we equalized, they definitely controlled the game. There’s no question about that. But after that, there really wasn’t much in it. We’re the home team, so we’ve got to try to pressure them second half. I think we pressured them; we just didn’t produce some real quality chances in the second half, which was the one thing that was missing.”

“Conor Casey had a lot of time on the ball to pick out who he’s picking out, and (Pablo) Mastroeni’s had far too much time to pick his spot. It’s a great finish, but at the same time, with the amount of time Casey was holding the ball up, we should have been better defensively.”

“When he gets the ball, he’s capable of doing stuff. He lacks match fitness to be honest, and I’m sure once he gets that he’ll be a lot more consistent. But you can see from the free kick what he’s capable of doing … we wanted to try to get him the ball, and we have to do a better job of that.”

“We wanted to mix it up. For 60 minutes we had been banging the door and didn’t really look as though we were going to open it, so we had to change it up. Same thing with taking Kheli – we had thrown at them what we’d thrown at them, so there comes a time when you change it up. So that’s what we did and why we did it.”

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION FORWARD ZACK SCHILAWSKI

“A little bit of tough game. We’re disappointed in the result, but on the plus side a lot of new guys got to run out there. Marko (Perovic) scored a great goal, so I think we’re showing signs of being a pretty deep team once we get everything together.”

“I think we’ve identified that as a problem, for sure – that we haven’t started the game off very well. We’ve been starting the second half pretty well, but the first half – for whatever reason – we’re getting off to a little bit of slow start. So I think, maybe in the next few games here, just keep that in mind as we’re warming up – that that’s kind of been plaguing us a little bit and as long as we have that in mind, hopefully we’ll be able to improve on it.”

“We started the first half off slowly, but a bunch of times we’ve been able to come back. So that’s a good thing, for sure. I think, for the couple minutes leading up to the goal and after the goal, I thought we started to take it to them a little bit more. So it’s a good thing, but at the same time, it’s frustrating because you look back at those individual mistakes that could have changed the game.”

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION GOALKEEPER PRESTON BURPO

“The ball was swerving to my right so I was way off of it, but between the ball him hitting it pretty well – the ball had kind of taken a curve on its own – I had trouble with it and so, 1-0. And then Pablo (Mastroeni)’s goal: he just gets it good and I was hoping it’d at least hit the post and pop out, but it hit the post and went in.”

On the multiple shots that hit the post …
“(Mehdi) Ballouchy had one where he tried to almost half-bicycle it, but we got lucky there where it hit the post and came back, hit me. [The post] was my best friend with that play.”

“I think if we came out here with a point, I think you could say we deserved it. We tested them a little bit in the back. But with that said, give Colorado credit. They played well tonight; they actually tried to play on the road which, to be honest, is quite a shock because they never do.”

On playing his former team …
“I could care less, to be honest with you. It was just another game at home and we wanted to win and take the three points. At 2-1, you’re hoping we can sneak one in at the end. (Kenny) Mansally got in behind but was just a bit offside. We took our chances and we’ll just try to figure it out this week and get back at it again next Saturday.”

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION DEFENDER CORY GIBBS

On allowing Colorado time and space on the ball …
“That was the biggest problem in the first half. I think it was a lot better in the first 20-25 minutes in the second half. That what our biggest problem coming into halftime, but ultimately that’s too late. There’s a goal in the first half that’s happened already and then falling asleep on the second goal when you have a midfielder that’s open that scores.”

“When you look at their formation – it was a 4-5-1 – so it wasn’t really them trying to come at us and attack. But we gave them so much time on the ball that with those five in the midfield, that it affected us instead of us breaking it down and attacking. So I think that pressure came too late and ultimately we lost from it.”

COLORADO RAPIDS HEAD COACH GARY SMITH

“I thought we were well on top. We hit the woodwork twice. I thought we had some fantastic pressure. I thought we got ourselves into some nice areas. I have to be perfectly honest: I thought New England only had fleeting opportunities that were counterattacks. Given that we’re away from home, I think our plan to press was a good one, and it made a more positive picture for our group and gave us a little bit of an edge.”

“Really, I didn’t think they had many opportunities to maybe get themselves on level terms and, as you said, New England is a very genuine, organized, hardworking team. I’m sure they will look at this and feel as though some of those important bodies that are missing were the key for them. The deadlock was finally broken by a fabulous strike, and I though in the end it gave us a justified victory. I thought we performed well, we were positive, which is important when you’re away from home. Fortune sometimes favors the brave, which I think we were today.”

COLORADO RAPIDS MIDFIELDER JEFF LARENTOWICZ

“It felt good, I wanted to win. You know, it’s tough because I still care a lot about the guys and the coaches and the staff and everybody, but unfortunately I don’t play for them anymore. I want to win because I want us to win.”

“We played alright. I knew I had a lot of pent-up energy coming in and it might have waned a little bit in the second half because that’s the way things go. You go up a goal and they’re at home, they’re going to start to press the game, so I think that probably- personally - I fell out of the groove a little bit. But as long as we win, I’m happy. I mean, we’re 3-1-1 now, so that’s good.”

“I’d say that we probably had the better of the chances. I think that they did have a few chances, but I thought Matt (Pickens) came out well on a lot of their shots, and a lot of their breaks came on miscues and things like that. We were happy with the chances that we developed. I think being square at half time was good for them, because I thought we out-played them, but in the end it doesn’t matter.”

COLORADO RAPIDS MIDFIELDER PABLO MASTROENI

“Offensively as a team today we played pretty well, especially in the first half, moving the ball, getting chances. To be able to knock in that goal was obviously great for the team and the end of the day that’s much more important. We’re off to a good start and, like I said, anything to help out is great.”